What is motivation? its elements and importance in community development and active participation?

In psychology, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior (Geen, 1995). Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. Motivation is having the encouragement to do something. A motivated person can be reaching for a long-term goal such as becoming a professional writer or a more short-term goal like learning how to spell a particular word. Personality invariably refers to more or less permanent characteristics of an individual’s state of being (e.g., shy, extrovert, conscientious). As opposed to motivation, emotion refers to temporal states that do not immediately link to behavior (e.g., anger, grief, happiness).

There are a number drive theories. The Drive Reduction Theory grows out the concept that we have certain biological needs, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive increases as it is not satisfied. Then as we satisfy that drive but fulfilling its desire, such as eating, then the drives strength is reduced. It is based on the theories of Freud and the idea of negative feedback systems, such as a thermostat.

At the next level are motivations that have an obvious biological basis but are not required for the immediate survival of the organism. These include the powerful motivations for sex, parenting and aggression: again, the physiological bases of these are similar in humans and other animals, but the social complexities are greater in humans (or perhaps we just understand them better in our own species).

“Groups can have a synergy created when the combined efforts of cooperation between two or more persons produce an effect that exceeds the sum of what the individual members could do alone” (Corning & Caney 1986 in Working With Our Publics, Page & Berkow 1994).
How does a group organizer know what the perceived needs of the group are and how does he or she know if the needs are being met ? The most direct way is to ask the members of the group themselves. However, this will not always work because members are many times unable or unwilling to state their needs. People often have a “gut-level” feeling that something is right or wrong but cannot put it in words Sometimes individuals are reluctant to mention their motivation because they fear their reasons are socially unacceptable to other members, to the community, or to the organizational specialist.
the perceived needs of group members must be met at a satisfactory level. operational goals must be established, understood, and generally accepted by members of the group.
the group must have a successful experience within a time span established by the members themselves. members must find the group attractive and satisfying. the membership must be directly inclusive and/or representative of community residents whose support will be necessary for successfully accomplishing the group’s goals. the group’s membership must be tailored in terms of size and resources to the needs of the people to be served. the leadership must be appropriate to the needs of the members.

“Community participation”, means facilitating the active involvement of different community groups, together with the other stakeholders involved, and the many development and research agents working with the community and decision makers. So what is “participation” all about? We may say that a good indicator of participation is when people take responsibility for carrying out a development initiative. This means that people are not only taking part in the different activities, but also in the decision-making process and the planning of the development initiative.
Participation also goes hand in hand with responsibility. It is useful here to distinguish the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders involved and to work out participants’ material or financial contribution to the process. This contribution can take many forms: services, materials, funding, etc. However small it may be, it will help participants feel a sense of ownership over the communication activity. Without ownership, the effort will always be seen as “someone else’s” initiative.

Promoting participation also depends on making room for democracy and recognizing the right to express divergent opinions. Without democracy and respect for fundamental human rights, and without the freedom of expression, the ability to use communication to foster social change is severely limited. Democracy implies recognizing other peoples’ right to exist, to have their own points of view, and to express them freely, as long as they do so peacefully, without inciting hatred or bullying other people. When this ethos does not exist, participatory development communication cannot be of much help.
Using communication to facilitate participation: You should be able to bring people to express their points of view and listen to others, and to build consensus around a course of action. This demands the ability to listen, to be aware of the participants’ viewpoints and to be in a position to bring them to share information and views.
Establishing a relationship with a local community and understanding the local setting

Step 2:
Involving the community in the identification of a problem, its potential solutions, and the decision to carry out a concrete initiative

Step 3:
Identifying the different community groups and other stakeholders concerned with the identified problem (or goal) and initiative

Step 4:
Identifying communication needs, objectives and activities

Step 5:
Identifying appropriate communication tools

Step 6:
Preparing and pre-testing communication content and materials

Step 7:
Facilitating partnerships

Step 8:
Producing an implementation plan

Step 9:
Monitoring and evaluating the communication strategy and documenting the development or research process

Step 10:
Planning the sharing and utilization of results